It’s been a frustrating season for the Dallas Mavericks as they’ve gotten off to a poor start at 4-12. The team opted to fire general manager Nico Harrison amid multiple injuries and the team’s slow start. While the cloud of the Luka Doncic trade still hangs over the franchise, the Mavericks have their centerpiece of the future in rookie forward Cooper Flagg, who recently was upgraded on the team’s injury report.
Cooper Flagg sat out during the Mavericks’ loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday due to illness, but he was upgraded to available on the team’s injury report for their upcoming game on Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans, as per ClutchPoints’ Mavericks reporter Joey Mistretta.
The Knicks game was the first game of the season that Flagg missed, and he was listed as dealing with a right thumb splint as well. Cooper first sustained the thumb injury after attempting a dunk against the Washington Wizards back on Nov. 8. He was able to play through the injury in each subsequent game before the illness kept him out on Wednesday.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Flagg’s NBA career got off to a somewhat slow start, but he’s started to find his rhythm a bit in the first month of the regular season.
Flagg has appeared in 15 games so far, at a little over 33 minutes per game. He’s been averaging 15.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 45.5 percent shooting from the field, 29.3 percent shooting from the three-point line and 78.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
Amid the Mavericks’ early injuries, head coach Jason Kidd attempted to play Flagg out of position at point guard.
